Top Tips For Creating A Beautiful Donation Page

By now, you probably know the importance of creating a user-friendly and engaging website for your charity, but what about when it comes time to give? It can be off-putting for supporters to go from a well-designed website to a clunky, out-dated donation form. 

Don’t let your donation page distract supporters from your impact. Experts estimate that 1 out of 5 people abandon a cart due to a “long, complicated checkout process.” Don’t worry, there are some simple tips you can follow to optimize a donor’s checkout experience. 

Keep reading to learn:

• The importance of a well-designed online donation page.
• Things to consider when creating a donation process.
• Top tips to create donation pages that convert and nurture donor relationships.

Beyond The Payment Portal

Deciding to give to your mission is an important step in a supporter’s relationship with you. Don’t settle for anything less than an engaging donation experience for your supporters.

Instead of throwing up a donation form and calling it a day, think through the experience supporters will go through when giving. What feelings do you want them to experience? 

A well-designed online fundraising page provides a holistic (and much more fun!) fundraising experience. Plus, custom-branded donation pages on a nonprofit’s website help raise up to 6 times as much money on average.

Before You Get Started

Before you put in the time and effort it takes to create a stunning donation form, make sure your donation buttons and links are easy to find. Put your donate button at the very top of your website in a color that stands out. Additionally, you’ll want to include clear calls to action throughout your website, so supporters have ample opportunity to visit your giving page.

Remove any and all hurdles for getting to your donation page. Buttons and links should take them directly to your giving page where they’ll find a quick, easy-to-use donation form. 

Top Tips For Creating A Beautiful Donation Page

Make It Mobile-Friendly

On average, 25% of donors complete their donations on mobile devices. For many charities, this number is closer to 50% or more, especially after this past year with COVID. 

Don’t leave a quarter of donors hanging with a less-than-ideal mobile donation experience. By incorporating mobile-responsive design to their websites, nonprofits can increase their donations by 126% on average.

The solution is simple: make sure your website’s donation page is designed with mobile in mind, vertical images and videos, and check-out forms.

Remove Distractions and Lean on Cognitive Ease

Trustraising is about giving your supporters a fighting chance to build a heart connection to your mission in a digital world. Give them that chance!

Make it easy on their brains:

• Use similar fonts to the fonts they see all day.
• Use similar button clors for your donate buttons.
• Use icons that are familiar.
• Use similar positioning.

In other words, do what their brain is expecting! Free the mind of your supporter so they can be free to focus on impact—on the outcomes of partnering with your mission—instead of how to navigate your donation form.

Include a Compelling and Concise Call-To-Action

The key to a compelling call-to-action (CTA) = brief + emotional + tangible impact.

In other words:

• One sentence. 
• Evokes strong emotion—not just all about the facts.
• Demonstrates what real impact a gift will make.

For example, charity: water’s donation form says, “100% of your money brings clean water to people in need.” Or, ASPCA’s donation page says, “Donate now to help save animals today.” 

These CTA’s make it clear in just a few words that a supporter’s gift is life-changing (emotional) and immediately helpful (tangible impact).

Select Intentional Visuals

Less is more when it comes to imagery—choose (preferably) one photo at the top of the page that will inspire emotion and impact.

Save Supporters Time

Powerful donation pages are downright fast. They include:

• As few clicks as possible.
• Suggested donation amounts with tangible impacts.
• As few fields as possible (auto-fill when possible).
• Default to credit cards as the payment method (54% of donors worldwide prefer this!).

Give Them The Choice To Choose Their Investment Level

Always offer the opportunity for recurring donations and membership programs! 

Not only is this becoming a more popular option, but it also yields higher giving for your organization: 45% of donors are enrolled in a monthly giving program. Donors that set up monthly donations give 42% more annually, compared to one-time donations.

When it comes to trustraising, opportunities for partnership, community, and collaboration are key. One of the easiest and most effective ways to start that process is to offer ongoing giving opportunities for supporters.

Reduce Donation Friction With Givecloud

Givecloud’s Page With Payment template allows donors to decide the amount they want to give and process the payment on the same page. This one step process reduces a lot of friction at checkout and helps alleviate the process fatigue that can lead to a donor abandoning their donation.

It also includes:

• A clean and easy one-step process.
• Item templates optimized for mobile viewing.
• No requirements for non-essential information.
• Address auto-complete at the checkout.
• New embeddable donation forms to broaden your reach and hit your fundraising goals.

You can start using Givecloud right now with our free trial, or speak with our team to find out if Givecloud is the right fit for your mission!